Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi Recalls His Last Conversation With Eddie Van Halen, Who Died Of Cancer at 65

“Well, I knew it was a matter of time. But he did contact me. And I could tell,” Iommi recalls. “The last email was just before he went into hospital the last time and it was really… You know, some of the words were mixed up, he was obviously sedated or something. But that was the last one I had from him. I really miss him.”

Iommi described his friendship with Van Halen, one that lasted more than 40 years.

“Eddie was a really close friend of mine. We stayed in touch since the first tour, since 1978,” he remembered. “They came on their first World Tour with Sabbath. They were all itching, all ready to go. I really liked him. I'd never heard anything like it, the way he played, I was, 'Wow, this is really different.'”

Related: 6 Well-Known Figures Who Battled Throat Cancer, Including Eddie Van Halen, Val Kilmer, and Bob Denver

Though the two lost touch every now and then, but they always found their way back in touch, Iommi recalls.

“When we used to go out for dinner, we'd always end up [grousing] about the bands,” he says. “He'd be going on about (off and on Van Halen member) Dave Roth, and I'd be going on around about [whoever]…. This was just before he died, or rather, before he really became ill.”

Cancer was sometimes the topic of their conversations.

“I know he'd been ill with his cancer on and off for years, and I'd see him through the different stages,” Iommi says. “We'd go out to dinner and he'd talk about that. We'd talk about music and talk about different things. Piss and moan about stuff, you know.”

An Incredible Cancer Journey

Van Halen passed away after three separate battles with cancer. He was first diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2000, where he had part of his tongue removed as a part of treatment. He was declared in remission in 2002. However, due to cancerous cells that had traveled from his tongue, Van Halen was later diagnosed with throat cancer around 2014.

Throughout his cancer journey, Van Halen kept his health mostly private. However, his son Wolfgang shared that the rock star had also been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2017 and a brain tumor in 2019. Van Halen traveled to Germany to receive treatment for the lung cancer (which extended his expected survival time) and is said to have gone through gamma knife radiation, a type of a radiosurgery, to remove the brain tumor.

Symptoms & Causes of Throat Cancer

The two main causes of throat cancer include smoking and excessive drinking, and Van Halen himself had said he'd been smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol since he was 12-years-old. However, studies have shown that there's another link to what may cause throat cancer.  A large number of throat cancer diagnoses can be caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. According to Dr. Ted Teknos, Scientific Director of UH Seidman Cancer Center, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers have gone up exponentially since the mid-90's.

Related: Wolfgang Shares Video of Dad, Eddie Van Halen, Just a Week After He Passed From Cancer, That Reveals Rocker's Dream Collaboration

"If you look at the percentage of patients who developed throat cancer, cancer of the tonsils, and the base of the tongue in the 80s compared to the 2010s, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers has gone up by 300%," Dr. Teknos told SurvivorNet in a previous interview. "So there is no myth. HPV causes throat cancer, and it's a sexually transmitted disease."

Currently, there's no annual screenings for throat cancer like other types of the disease. However, there are signs to look out for and consult your doctor if they happen often. Symptoms of throat cancer can include: a cough, changes in your voice, difficulty swallowing, ear pain, a lump or sore in the throat that will not heal, unexplained weight loss, and a persistent sore throat.

Dr. Ted Teknos explains how HPV is linked to throat cancer

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